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G. W. ALLEN.

PNEUMATIC CLEANER.

APPLICATION man OCT. 26. 1914.

Patented June 3, 1919.

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\ie) M 35B x UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. ALLEN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO B; F. STURTEVANTCOMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

. PNEUMATIC CLEANER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 3, 1919.

Original application filed October 13, 1913, Serial No. 794,841. Dividedand this application filed October 26, 1914. Serial No. 868,676.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE W. ALLEN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Hyde Park, Boston, in thecounty of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Pneumatic Cleaners; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of. theinventlon, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to pneumatic cleaners, and moreparticularly to suetion cleaners provided w1th a fan or pump andarranged to be propelled in the cleaning operation over the surface tobe cleansed. The present application is a division of my application,Serial No. 794,841, filed October 13, 1913,,Patent No. 1,124,684,granted J anuary 12, 1915.

The principal object of the present invention is to increase theefiiciency of cleaners of the above type by enabling them to clean underlow articles of furniture without requirin the use of a flexible hoseconnection or a p urality of suction nozzles.

With this object in view the' present invention consists in thepneumatic cleaner hereinafter described and more particularly defined inthe claim.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate what is now considered tobe the preferred form of the present invention, Figure 1 is a frontelevation, and Fig. 2 a rear elevation of my improved pneumatic cleaner.Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same. Fig. 4 is a viewof the inside of the front cover showing the method of attachment of thedust collector.

The pneumatic cleaner illustrated in the drawings is of the traveling,self-contained, motor-driven type. Thecleaner comprises at the front adust collector 1, behind it a suction fan, or air pump 2, and behind thefan an'electric motor 3 for driving it. The cylindrical dust collectorchamber 4is formed of sheet aluminum and is secured by rivets at itsrear end to the fan casing 6 which is cast aluminum. Bolted to the rearof the fan casing 6 is the motor casing 7, also of cast aluminum. Thefront cover 5 has a'rearwardly extending annular flange 9 which fitsover the end of the dust collector chamber 4. The inner face of thefront cover '5 is provided with an annular rubber gasket 10 which fitsagainst the end of the chamber 4 to form a dust tight closure. cover 5is held in place by means of swing bolts and thumb nuts 11 which arehinged to the sides of the chamber 4 and fit into slotted cars 12 on thesides of the front cover.

The rear of the cleaner is supported by means of two rubber-tired wheelscarried upon the ends of an axle 21 which is carried beneath the motorcasing 7. The front of the cleaner is supported by means of the nozzle22, the weight of the cleaner serving to hold the nozzle against thefloor. The nozzle 22 has the long transverse slot 23 usual in carpetcleaning suction nozzles. The front cover 5 is provided at its loweredge with a socket 24 through which passes the intake openin 25 for thedust laden air. The rear end 0 the nozzle piece 22 is externally taperedto fit into the internally tapered socket 24 so that when the cleaner is0rdi-. narily used, the nozzle piece 22 is frictionally connecteddirectly with the front cover 5. In order to adapt the cleaner forcleaning the floor beneath radiators and low articles of furniture, anextension pipe 26 is provided. One end of this extension pipe isexternally tapered so that it fits in the socket 24. The other end isinternally tapered and is adapted to receive the rear end of the nozzlepiece 22. Since the socket 24 is at the extreme lower edge of the frontcover 5, the nozzle can be passed under articles having only a very fewinches clearance above the floor, and the cleaner is thus adapted toclean under low articles of furniture without requi'ring the use of aflexible hose connection or a plurality of inspection nozzles. While theextension pipe 26 may be of any convenient length, it is found that themost satisfactory length for ordinary household purposes is about twofeet.

The dust collector 1 comprises a cloth dust bag 30 which is looselygathered over a wire cage 31 and is inclosed in a cylindrical dustcollector chamber 4, having a screen 32 at the rear.- The inlet passage25 curves up from the mouth of the nipple 24 so that the inlet passageopens on the inside of the front cover 5 near its center. Surroundingthe mouth of the inlet 25 is a rearwardly extending annular flange 33.The mouth of the dust bag is removably secured around The front '65lation'fi'or the nozzle cover 5. In order that the dust ring 34 may beeasily put on and taken off to empty the dust bag, the flange 37 has twooppositely disposed cut-away portions 39.

The filtered air from the dust bag chamher passes to the center of thefan through an inlet 60 in the front wall of the fan casing. The airisdischarged from the periphery of the fan into av scroll-shapeddischarge chamber 61 terminating in a dis-- charge nozzle 62 atthe topof the cleaner.

The fan 2 consistsof a flat circular web 70 andcurved air-impellingblades 71 and 72 formed on the front and rear faces of the webrespectively, The blades 72 are similar in shape tothe blades 71 exceptthat they are much shallower. The fan is mounted on the forward end ofthe motor shaft 73. The rear end of the motor casing has an air inletopening 7 5 therein and the front wall of themotor casing, which formsthe rear'wall of the fan casing, has therein a small opening or airpassage 76 near the center of the fan. The passage 76 serves as an inletopening for the shallow blades 72 which cause a circulation of air asindicated by the arrows through the openings 75 and 76 to air cool themotor. The airsucked through the motor by the blades 72 is dischargedinto the. commondischarge chamber 61.

The cleaner is drawn back and forth across the floor tobe cleanedbymeans of a handle 80, which is hinged to the cleaner casing. j Castintegral with the top of the fan casing 6 are two backwardly extendingears 81 and 82 which are bored and through which is passed a pintle pin83, one end of which is headed and which is removably retained in placeby means of a cotter pin 86 passed through its other end. A secondpintle pin 84 extends between the two ears 81 and 82 and forms a pivotfor a latch 85. The lower end of the'handle is bifurcated to formtwoprojections or ears 90 and 91 are loosely mounted to turn about thepintle pin 83. The cars 90 and 91 have two pins 92 and 93 extendingbetween them in posltion to be engaged by the latch 85. When the cleaneris in use, the pin 92 is erfgaged by the latch 85, as shown in Fig. 3,so that the handle is inclined at about 45 to the horizontal and thecleaner can be tilted up on its wheels foi' more convenientmanipupressed more firmly which fit inside of the ears 81 and 82 and ragainst the surface being cleaned. When the cleaner is not in use, thelatch 85 may be lifted by pressing down with the foot on the toe piece94 to release the latch and the handle may be lifted so that the pin 93is engaged by the latch to hold the handle upright over the cleaner, asshown in Figs. 1 and 2 for the convenience of the operator in carryingthe cleaner about or to economize floor space in storing the cleanerwhen not in use, for example as in a closet or behind a door. Byreleasing the handle entirely from the latch, the former may be swungdown into a more nearly horizontal position, thus enabling the cleanerto be oper- 0 ated beneath a bed,-table, or other similar article offurniture. When the handle is in a horizontal position the cleaner maybe stored away beneath a lounge or bed.

' The handle is made in two parts, one a 5 sleeve 100 which ispermanently secured to the machine and a removable part 101 which formsthe main length of the handle. As shown in the drawings, the upper partof the handle is broken away. The removable portion 101 of the handle isabout three or four feet long. The hinged ears 90 and 91 are formedintegrally on the lower part of the sleeve 100. The upper part of thesleeve is split, as shown in Fig. 2, and is tightened by means of ascrew 102 passing through the ears 103 to clamp the removable handle 101in-the sleeve. A lug 104 on the back of the lower part of the removableportion 101 serves to properly position it with relation to the sleeve100. In the sleeve 100 is a block of hard rubber insulation 105 fromwhich project into the open upper end of the sleeve two contact plugs106 which are connected to the motor 3 by means of the wires 107 105which emerge from the lower end of the sleeve between the ears 90 and91. These ears 90 and 91 serve to protect the wires 107 and decrease thechance of accidental breakage. In the lower end of the removable portionof the handle 101 is a block of hard rubber insulation holding twosocket members 108 in which fit the plugs 106. The socket members 108are connected to wires 109 which extend through the removable tubularportion of the handle 101 and are adapted to be connected to somesuitable. source of current. The removable portion of the handle is thuseasily taken ofi so that the cleaner can be more easily stored when notin use, and without requiring the disconnection of any wires orliability of improper replacement. If desired the usual flexible hosewith cleaning tool at its extremity may be connected to the nipple 24,or if a blast is required, such hose may be con-. nected with thedischarge 62.

While the preferred embodiment of the present invention has beenspecifically illustrated and described, it is to be understood that thepresent invention is not limited to its illustrated embodiment, but maybe embodied in other constructions Within the purview of the inventionas set forth in the following claim A vacuum cleaner having a fanmounted to turn upon a horizontalaxis, a fan-casing provided with anaxial intake opening, a motor for actuating the fan, a dust conduithaving one end communicating with the in-' take opening of the fan andthe other end having a forwardly-projecting socket ofi'set below theintake opening of the fan-casing, wheels for supporting the rear end ofthe cleaner, a suction-nozzle for supportin the front end of thecleaner, and a rigid tu ular extension member having its opposite endsformed to provide an air-tight extension member having its opposite endsformed to provide an air-tight fit between the socket and the member andbetween the member and the suction nozzle, said extension tubular memberbeing adapted to rigidly sup ort the nozzle against lateral and fore-amfaft displacement in extended position to permit the cleaner to cleanunder low articles of furniture, the tubular extension member beingreadily disconnectible from the socket and from the nozzle, and the endof the nozzle which engages the tubular extension member being formed tofit the socket so that the nozzle may be mounted directly upon thecleaner-body.

GEORGE W. ALLEN.

Witnesses:

ALFRED H. HILDRETH, BURTON CARY.

